Charissa Marie

For those of you who asked for more pictures of my cute, adorable, precious, beautiful, priceless, darling, gorgeous, miracle sister ever, (grin) here are a few....

The faces of Charissa Marie!

John 12:26

"If any man serve Me, let him follow Me;

and where I am, there shall also My servant be:

if any man serve Me, him will My Father honor."

I tend to think of serving God in terms of grand, heroic acts -- but serving Him daily, in all the everday and trivial events of my life, actually requires far more discipline and commitment. Something as ordinary as doing the laundry or cleaning a bathroom can lead my heart to God, so long as I offer everything I do up to Him.

-Elizabeth Prentiss

In HIS strength --

Trying to do the Lord's work in your own strength is the most confusing, exhausting and tedious of all work.

But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit,

then the ministry of Jesus just flows out of you.

Corrie tenBoom

"You shall call, and the Lord will answer;

...the Lord will guide you continually,

and satisfy your soul in drought,

and strengthen your bones;

You shall be like a watered garden,

and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail."

Isaiah 58:9, 11

Wonder of all wonderment!

Momentous moment when small form
First feels life in itself.
When new eyes open wide
On an old, old world.

When tiny hands handle air;
Touch tenderness and love.
When ears first wake to sound
And silent lips find voice and food.

God's fingerprints all over her --

Precious one,
So small,
So sweet

What a miracle
you are!

It's a Girl!!

I have another beautiful sister -- Charissa Marie.

Trusting...who?!

"Trust in yourself and you are doomed to disappointment;... but trust in GOD,

and you are never to be confounded in time or eternity."

- Dwight L. Moody

Good Temper

"Love is not provoked."

We are inclined to look upon a bad temper as a very harmless weakness. We speak of it as a mere matter of temperment, not a thing to take into serious account in estimating a man's character. The temper is significant not in what it is alone, but in what it reveals. A want of patience, kindness, generosity, courtesy and unselfishness, are all symbolized in one flash of temper. Therefore "Let that mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus."

Part 8 of 9

The light within

The wind will extinquish a weak flame;
but it will fan a stronger flame into a still greater blaze.
William Barclay

"That you may [be] blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation,
among whom you shine as lights in the world."
Philippians 2:15

James 1:4

"Let patience have her perfect work,

that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing."

God might not work by your clock. He works in His time and even though it would seem He does nothing, He is either testing us or waiting for the perfect time to intervene so you will realize it was not you who did it, it was your Heavenly Father who let you do it.

Caption Contest

Sorry I haven't blogged for a few days...I've been busy sorting through the 800+ pictures I took last weekend. But I thought I'd post this one for fun --


This photo begs for a caption -- ideas, anyone?!

How beautiful!

How beautiful the hands that served the wine and the bread

and the sons of the earth.

How beautiful the feet that walked the long dusty roads

and the hill to the cross.

How beautiful,

How beautiful,

How beautiful is the body of Christ.

How beautiful the heart that bled,

that took all my sin and bore it instead.

How beautiful the tender eyes

that choose to forgive and never despise.

How beautiful,
How beautiful,
How beautiful is the body of Christ.

And as He laid down His life, we offer this sacrifice:

that we will live just as He died,

willing to pay the price, willing to pay the price.

How beautiful the radiant Bride
who waits for her Groom with his light in her eyes.

How beautiful the humble hearts give

the fruit of pure lives so that others may live.

How beautiful,
How beautiful,
How beautiful is the body of Christ.

How beautiful the feet that bring
the sound of good news and the love of the King.

How beautiful the hands that serve
the wine and the bread and the sons of the earth.


How beautiful,
How beautiful,
How beautiful is the body of Christ.

Many thanks to Ragnar and Angela for giving me permission to post these for you to enjoy after they viewed them yesterday.

Sneak preview

Praise the Lord!

And thank you, thank you, thank you!

What an encouragement it was to know you all were praying -- thank you again so-o-o-o much. It was an incredibly huge day, yet the Lord answered so many prayers. I can't list everything tonight as I am going to hit the hay shortly, but I just wanted to let you know that God did exceedingly above what I had ever thought.

I'm posting one picture, just to wet your appetite...I'll hopefully post some more next week. In the meantime, sleep well and have a blessed Lord's day tomorrow!

Please pray

This weekend I will be photographing my first wedding. Truth to be told, I'm a little nervous! But God has already answered so-o-o-o many prayers.

To share a quick testimony of the Lord's goodness just yesterday --
Last month I noticed in a couple of my pictures a little 'fuzz' line. I thought it was a piece of dust, and didn't think much of it. This week it appeared again, only much more noticeable, especially when taking pictures with white somewhere in them (not a good thing when photographing a wedding!) I cleaned the lens, and tried to carefully air blow the inside of my camera.

All to no avail.

Panic started setting in. Ahhh -- was something scratched?! I've heard horror stories of how hard and expensive that kind of damage is to repair. I tried cleaning everything again, took some more pictures...and it always showed up, the same place in every picture. By now I was almost frantic! Not only do I have a wedding coming up, but this is my good (and only) camera! Questions like "what now?" and "I have 24 hours to figure something out?!" started surfacing.

I prayed and cried out to the Lord, then mentioned to Mom that something was wrong. She called a photography store in Lincoln, (the only photography store in Lincoln) and we headed in. We weren't sure exactly where it was, so when we were in the general vicinity, we stopped at a gas station to ask where it was.

"The Photo store?! You can walk there from here!" the man at the desk told us. (Should I be surprised?! He is faithful -- all the time!)

We walked into the camera store, mentioning that we had called in earlier. The man looked at my camera, messed with some settings, blew the inside out, took a picture to check it, and -- it was fixed! Totally completely clear! No little black smudge appeared on the pictures anymore!

Hallelujah!

Panic turned into praises.

Isn't my God good?!


And now the wedding is tomorrow. If you think of me, I'd appreciate prayer:
-for clarity and peace of mind
-wisdom with lighting and technical details
-catch the moment, the emotions, the details
-Ragnar and Angela blessed
-above all, that God is glorified

My sister, Rachel, is also doing all the piano music, and would appreciate prayers as well.


Thank you all so much, and may God bless you richly!

Chosen!

"He chose us...that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love...according to the good pleasure of His will."

Ephesians 1:4-5

God has a purpose for each one of us, a work for each one to do, a place for each one to fill, an influence for each one to exert, a likeness to His dear Son for each one to manifest, and then, a place for each one to fill in His holy Temple.

-Arthur C. A. Hall

"Many Biggers"

As I was catching up in my journal, I noticed my little six year old sister busy writing and coloring.

"Who is your card for Alaythia?"

"My best friend," she replied.

"Your best friend?! And who is your best friend?" I asked.

And with a little imp-ish grin she replied, "I'm not tellin'."



Tonight as I prepared for bed, I noticed something new pinned on the bulliten board in our room:




In our family (and especially with our grandparents) we have this thing of saying "I love you," and "I love you bigger."

I love you many biggers, too, Alaythia!

I'm back --

Well, kind of.

For today, anyway. If you've been keeping up with our family blog at all, life has been busy! Yet in the midst of the "busy-ness," what a wonderful thing it is to always find peace and rest in fellowship with my Heavenly Father.

Nothing humbles the soul like sacred and intimate communion with the Lord;

yet there is a sweet joy in feeling that He knows all,

and, not withstanding, loves us still.

-J. Hudson Taylor